Caged
by annyenil
Summary: Have you ever been to the zoo or the circus freakshow and snarled or laughed at those horrible,curious looking creatures? The Cirque d'Etoile has a brand new exhibit. But not everybody can see it......
1. The Missing Link

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

**Caged**

By annyenil

Prologue

* * *

Kurosaki Ichigo was quite expressionless about his life on a general basis. Today was one of those days where he could just return home and study to his heart's content. It wasn't that he was particularly nerdy, like that Uryuu Ishida, or that he needed the good grades. He was simply bored out of his mind. Still recovering from the torn tendon in his left leg, he had been banned from training with his zanpakutou for the rest of the week.

Being banned from fighting really left him with nothing to do. It had been his sole interest for ever since……he was born. He felt like a fish out of water, and studying somewhat ameliorated the cold turkey. _I'm starting to sound like Zaraki Taichou_, he thought to himself with a tinge of ignominy. _I'm born to protect, not fight……_

"Ichi-nii……" A gentle voice tugged at his sleeve. Ichigo unplugged the earphones and glanced up from his textbook.

"When did you come in, Yuzu?" He asked, his expression still callous, albeit carrying an overtone of concern.

"Just now. Your door was open, Ichi-nii." Yuzu looked down at her feet and rubbed her slippers against the floor hesitantly, as though dangling her words off her tongue and yet not being able to verbalize them. Ichigo put an arm around her and patted her back, subconsciously wondering if he could pat the words out of his sister.

"I don't want to die, Ichi-nii!" With that, she buried her tiny face into Ichigo's well-built, muscular chest. It was warm and yet hard like steel. "Ichi-nii……" Ichigo scratched his head and wondered what to do with himself. Death was a subject particularly hard to broach, and it wasn't like he played father or mother or even sister very often. Yuzu hardly ever behaved like this as far as he could remember. It must be something very urgent.

"What is it, Yuzu?"

"You are not Ichi-nii." Yuzu looked up, her eyes suddenly cold and stern, without any glimpse of girly clemency. "Where is Ichi-nii?"

"What are you talking about? I am right here, Yuzu."

"No, you are not Ichi-nii. Where is Ichi-nii?" Yuzu began to panick. Her father was away in Osaka for work, and Karin had stayed back at school for soccer practice. She had found her way into her brother's arms for comfort after that disturbing news at school……

Only to find out it wasn't him.

The Kurosaki Ichigo let go of Yuzu quickly, unable to find any response that would remotely satisfy Yuzu's frightening glare. Blushing from the gaucheness, he promptly hopped out of the window and pranced his way to the broken down idyll of a grocery store.

"URAHARA-SAN! I GOT FOUND OUT!" A pat on the back answered the faux Ichigo's question and a pill popped out of the body, flying straight into the mouth of an ochre lion soft toy. "The Great Fantastic Kon-sama is back!" Kon did a pirouette on the Urahara shop tatami and turned to face a slightly disgruntled Urahara Kisuke.

"Kon-san, you were found out so quickly?" Urahara fanned himself in a rather relaxed manner even though his heart and mind were already racing at a speed beyond imagination. It often gave people the false impression that he was a duplicitous man, but in fact he was simply too intelligent to deal with the masses, and thus gave himself a mask on the outside. "What are we going to do then?" He gave the soft toy a little castigating glance that would have otherwise escaped everybody else.

"Hmm…I promised Yoruichi to keep the family ignorant for a month. It's only been three days. Now, this could be a problem……"

Kon lay flat on the ground, tearing and swearing, "I am terribly sorry, Urahara-san……I am sorry……"

"Can we go to Soul Society then?" Suddenly, Kon bolted up.

"No, I will send Nova and Cloud."

"But……" _My Goddess of the Great Valleys……Farewell……_

Kon felt terrible.


	2. All the Shinigami

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

**Caged**

By annyenil

Chapter 1: The Missing Link

* * *

"Tenth Division Taichou Hitsugaya Toushirou, please report to us the numbers."

"Hai, understood." Toushirou bowed gravely towards the ground and then straightened himself, holding out a crumpled piece of paper. Clearing his throat, he began to read, "Reporting Real World Mission Number 10579: Three fukutaichou, one seated officer and one shinigami were sent. Shuuhei Hisagi, fukutaichou of the Ninth Division, Matsumoto Rangiku, fukutaichou of the Tenth Division and Izuru Kira, fukutaichou of the Third Division had been slightly injured and returned safely. Ayasegawa Yumichika, Fifth Seat of the Tenth Division had escaped unscathed and returned safely. Kuchiki Rukia of the Thirteenth Division had also returned safely. We had exterminated all the Arrancars that raided the region. Mission complete."

"Very well," Yamamoto taichou nodded his accolades, "You may take your leave."

"Hai." Toushirou bowed again and left the austere presence of the First Division taichou with one of his own in matching magnitude. The mission had been over so quickly and smoothly that he could not believe it was only just that. There must have been a trap……

"Matsumoto," He called to his resting fukutaichou upon entering the Division Office. "Had there been anything strange when you were on the mission?"

"Well," Rangiku slid a finger round her wavy curls and twirled them while deep in thought, "It was strange that we could defeat those Arrancars without much effort. It felt almost as though……they weren't real, you know." She winked at her taichou, knowing fully that he disliked her doing that.

"But everybody returned, did they?" Toushirou pressed on, the suspicious feeling growing into a lurch hard to ignore. _Something was wrong……_

"Yes, taichou. All of us had returned and been screened at the Fourth Division. Everybody had been real. No imposter, no missing persons." Rangiku grinned again, thinking to herself how her taichou sometimes worried so exorbitantly that he resembled a belaboring old grandfather. A very cute one of course.

"No imposter, no missing persons……" Toushirou was deep in thought. Suddenly, he started and picked up the phone, dialing to the Shinigami Connection Service, "I am Hitsugaya taichou of the Tenth Division, please connect me to Device Receptor number 34176."

"What do you mean, unable to……" Toushirou furrowed his eyebrows together rather anxiously. "Please connect again."

He paused for a moment, took a deep breath and slammed the phone down after saying thankyou in a most fettered manner. Without thinking, he instinctively hopped off his chair and headed out of the Office. "Where are you going, taichou?" Rangiku grinned, pondering what his taichou could be up to again.

"Matsumoto." He turned about and glared at her with the most censorious eyes. "You said _all_ were in, I suppose you meant all shinigami?"

"Yes, taichou. Of course I meant shinigami. What else could I be referring to? The Arran-" Rangiku stopped herself, her eyes wide open with alarm, unable to register what her taichou had to say.

"Kurosaki Ichigo is missing."


	3. Croaching Creeper

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

**Caged**

By annyenil

Chapter 2

* * *

"Ru-rukia-san?" Yuzu glanced up at the tinkling sensation on her tear-stained cheeks. It was, indeed, her brother's classmate Rukia.

"Have you been crying, Yuzu?" Rukia squatted down before the puny ten-year-old whose delicate shoulders were heaving up and down, like as though churning her heart into fragments of brittle glass. Rukia felt a knot of alarm lurch in her stomach. It had been a strange mission given to her by Ukitake Taichou: Go to the real world and locate Kurosaki Ichigo. Surely Ichigo would have been fine. Hadn't he just fought with the other captains like Hitsugaya taichou with the useless, malevolent arrancars that bastard Aizen had deployed?

"Where is your brother, Yuzu?" Rukia grasped the little girl's shoulders so roughly that Yuzu had froze her motion, as though Rukia had just shaken all sense of time out of the two of them. Sensing her own abruptness, Rukia relented and apologized, feeling rather sorry for the little girl. "What happened, Yuzu?" She asked, her voice now a gentle whisper, flitting away with the summer breeze that went past.

"I……don't know." Yuzu shook her head with more melancholy than a ten-year-old could carry that it even surprised Rukia. "I have no idea. I was talking to him, but he turned out to be someone else." _Kon. That idiot. _Rukia had already heard about what happened from Urahara Kisuke, but it still puzzled her where Ichigo could have been. Had he run off to train with Shinji again? Or had he secretly hidden himself in Urahara's basement again. "Darn, I should have raided that shop." Rukia thought angrily of the rather suspicious Urahara shop.

"What were you going to tell Ichigo?" Rukia asked, recollecting her own thoughts. She sat herself down before Yuzu and smiled motherly, hoping to coerce the little girl into confiding in her. At this moment, any information could be a clue.

"It was……it was……" Yuzu wiped her tears away with her drenched sleeves and began her story, "At school today, the Sensei told us that one of our classmates had died." With that difficultly squeezed out sentence, Yuzu burst into hysterical tears again. Sighing, Rukia took her small body into her own warm embrace and asked into the little girl's ears. "What had happened?" Yuzu released herself from the comfort of the hug, a little ashamed of her own weakness before an almost stranger and said, "She was my friend. We did homework together. She went on a trip to Tokyo last week with her parents……and never came back. The Sensei at school told us it was an accident. But……"

"But……?" Rukia pressed on, not wanting Yuzu to close the subject now, and yet death was always a raw wound in anybody's heart that was difficult to broach. Even a shinigami like her had known that.

"But my classmates said it was because of the Suicide Exhibit."

"The Suicide Exhibit?"

"It's the newest exhibit in the Cirque d'Etoile, which was touring in Tokyo. They said that if you looked into the cage and saw something, it's a sign that you will die within the next week." Rukia looked up at the source of explanation and found a callous-faced Karin, who was bored by the rumour and thought it childish. "It's a stupid rumour anyway."

"It's not stupid!" Yuzu bolted up suddenly, gesticulating wildly, "Haven't you heard? They call it the "Spot the Death God!" exhibit. If you see it, you die! Many, many people in Tokyo had seen it and passed away!" Yuzu shook her tightened fists, her voice trembling and her tears falling like a broken chain of pure, shiny pearls.

"But if it's in Tokyo……" Rukia trailed off and Yuzu collapsed on the ground. Karin sighed and slammed a flyer onto the floor before Rukia. Her eyes widened.

It read: CIRQUE D'ETOILE – COMING SOON TO KARAKURA TOWN!


	4. Pieces of Truth

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

**Caged**

By annyenil

Chapter 3

* * *

"Taichou, this place is so exciting!" A restless Matsumoto Rangiku stuck her head above the din of the equally excited crowd that was swarming towards the large trapeze and campus of the latest Cirque d'Etoile performance. Cirque d'Etoile was simply the most fantastic circus there ever existed on the planet, with its strange, creepy freak shows, amazing acrobatic stunts and the most farcical clowning acts that some critiques gave it accolades as comparable to the Emperor's best court jesters.

Hitsugaya Toushirou's heart had no place for such gratuitous attacks on humanity, especially those poor monkeys being chained together like Mongolian Barbeque, that he could only concentrate on not getting stepped on. It was really annoying, for in a place as crowded as this, he had no option but to let his smirking fukutaichou lead him around blindly, which also meant that he had absolutely no control over where he was heading. And that was how he ended up stepping into a tent that was musky and mouldy, and seemed to be coated enigmatically with a thin, glistening layer of dust.

"MATSUMOTO!" He bellowed, as the two of them quickly escaped from the tent, just in time to foment a tsunami of dust that nearly engulfed them. Realising that Rangiku was grabbing his sweaty palms once they have calmed down, he extracted himself with a rather boyish irritation and reminded Rangiku of the reason they were there. They had been sent by Soul Society after Kuchiki Rukia returned to report of the strange death incidence occurring in Tokyo. To them, it had not mattered whether it was Karakura town, or Okinawa, but it did strike them that the spirit level in Tokyo was a lot less dense than it was in Karakura, which was probably an all time peak.

Right ahead, if they could somehow make it, were a long, long, endless queue that led entrance into the day's highlight: Spot the Death God Freak-Show! Rumours had been spread around that if an audience member could see somebody or some movement during the mythical performance, they would pass away within the next week from the curse of the Death God. So far the rumour had replicated itself in reality without foil as near fifty victims had fallen into the curse after seeing the supposed Death. _It's impossible_….Toushirou thought to himself, _humans are such foolish creatures_.

The first week after the show opened, two teenaged high school girls shrieked that they had seen a man in a black traditional costume with the most strange shade of hair colour slashing a katana at them. Soon after, they stabbed themselves and passed away tragically in the looming toilets of the school building. The second week, a young girl and several others exclaimed that a man in a black, tattered long coat with gusts of hurricane swirling behind him had glared so fiercely at them, that it felt as though the glare alone had torn their souls apart. After self-derision and constant murmurings from around, all of them succumbed to death and committed suicide within the next week. Just the week before, another few audience members spotted a man with a mask on his face so malicious looking that one old man had a cardiac arrest.

And yet, the audience kept flooding in. Some wanting to see this Death for themselves, some wanting to be myth-busters, some just inquisitive for no more curious or intriguing event had taken in the bustling, workaholic's city of Tokyo for such an extensive time, even if death was involved, it was worth the fun and drive.

"Taichou, from those descriptions……don't you think it is……?"

"That is what we are here to check."

"Why don't we leave our gigai behind and sneak inside instead."

"We can't, Matsumoto. If they can spot whatever that is in the show, they'd probably be able to see us too."

"So what do we do now?" Rangiku sighed and pouted coquettishly at her little taichou, who frowned a little and shrugged.

"Now, we wait."


	5. He and Himself

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

**Caged**

By annyenil

Chapter 4

* * *

_Where on earth is this place? Where am I?_

Kurosaki Ichigo had repeated this to himself for the umpteenth time before sinking into despondency in a corner of the enclosure he had been staying in for quite awhile. He had not eaten a thing for weeks and was starving like a wolf during full moon. He would have chewed on himself if he hadn't still had the will to protect his loved ones. _Like I'm any good stuck here……_

Incensed, he kicked the glass-like panels around him. "_Ban-kai!_" He transformed into his flowy, black costume and pulled on the satanic looking mask that had separated him so from other shinigami. Aside from the fact, of course, that he believed himself to still be a living human. How many days had passed, he would not know. How many lives had been lost, he would not know. Kurosaki Ichigo was the newest exhibit of the Cirque d'Etoile. Exhibits were granted no right to have opinions, private space or food. They were meant to be ogled and flouted at till they die.

Which, of course, would cause a problem of disposal in Ichigo's case, since he would not die. However, in his mind, there had never been something as fitting to describe this feeling of fettering suffocation. He had many questions, he had no answers. He had pressed his eyes and ears so eagerly to the panels, knowing that he could not be locked up without being observed for empirical purposes or otherwise, but could only be failed by his senses. It was like as though he had entered into a zero dimension, where nothing, absolutely nothing existsed. From the incipient anger and circumvention, Ichigo had progressed to questioning his own existence. Had everything, being a shinigami, meeting Rukia and Renji and everyone, been merely an illusion, and that he was here to repent over his fatuous chimeras. Should he be weeping histrionically in ignominy? But he could find no reason to do so. He was almost confident of his memory. Almost……

Being confined in a box for an extended period could have a profound effect on even the most inhuman human. Ichigo found this impact ineffable. He allowed his Hollow mask to fragment slowly and felt each piece disintegrate into the air bit by bit, his eyes bloody with thickened vessels popping out. His once firm and muscular built had been reduced to a boyish skinniness that proved to be most disheartening for any regular contender. Normally, he would have admonished himself and do some push ups of some sort. But now, he could not bring himself to even move.

It was not so much the lack of food that had enervated him, but the extreme dearth of spirit particles. He could feel himself loosing the grip on his Zangetsu every time he pulled him out to battle against the nothingness that affronted him day and night, day and night, day and night……

Ichigo was afraid. He was not afraid of being alone or sealed in a box. He was afraid that outside, the people he couldn't protect now would be harmed. He had nightmares of them dying before him, while he watched helplessly, just as he had done so when his mother left him. In his dreams, she would leave him again and again, piercing through that old, sealing wound in his heart, slashing it raw and agonizing every night. He truly wondered how long he could last before his heart turned ugly. He was powerful. Being powerful was dangerous if he had not a reason to be. An appropriate and kind reason for the matter.

Ichigo dared not wonder if he be locked in the box forever. Would he lose his power? If that were the case, then he would rather die in it. Or perhaps, till then, he would not even have the courage to face the death that he had so recklessly confronted before. Zangetsu seemed to have fallen asleep on him. Ichigo inhaled deeply and found that he could smell nothing, taste nothing, and see nothing but himself and the four walls around. _What a curious dimension……_

Soon, he would fall into a deep slumber, and found that he could dream of nothing. No nightmare, no darkness, no malevolence of Aizen. Just a blank, nothingness. Ichigo stood in a place with nothing but himself and began to feel a surge of reiatsu running through his body. It was bad.

For a man whose nature was to fight, like Ichigo, he must always occupy himself with belligerent ventures, be it verbal or physical. This nothingness had made him fight with the wall, arguing with the indifferent universe and duel with air. Now that he had tired of everything else, he was left with only one last thing to do.

Fight with himself.

_Damn. Hell no. I am not going to kill myself._

_Bring it on, Ichigo._

_Shut up._

In his consciousness, he knew it was dangerous, for the two voices speaking in his mind were neither Zangetsu nor Hollow Ichigo. It was him, his own ego speaking to him, where he had no escape, no suppression. It was only a matter of time before he struck his own Zanpakutou at himself. He was the biggest menace to his own life.

_Shut the fuck up._


	6. Revelation of Fear

**Author's Note: **I haven't had time to write anything for so long that even though I ought to be studying, I simply HAVE to write. Bleach forever!

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

**Caged**

By annyenil

Chapter 5

* * *

"For the last time, Matsumoto, NO." An exasperated Hitsugaya Toushirou glared at his loyal but troublesome fukutaichou who was now pouting at him with the most lugubrious eyes and maudlin expressions. How was he supposed to know that being in a circus could really make people feel all farcical and _childish_? Already his partner had never consigned to do her work properly, but with the bubbling atmosphere of pure entertainment around them, Matsumoto Rangiku's mental age had taken a sudden plunge towards infancy.

"But, taichou," Rangiku whined in a manner that would have melted the hearts of most men in Sereitei, "Can't we just buy candy floss? Look, they have green ones that match your eyes!"

But not this man……boy.

An increasingly irascible Hitsugaya incisively ignored the umpteenth request for her to run off during a mission and crossed his arms, metaphorical smoke emitting from above his head in the form of evaporating, sticky and _annoying_ perspiration. This place contained too much ebullience and facetiousness for his decorum. The fact that he was on a mission to be buried among foolish men who thought he was the child of a very hot and blossoming mother did not palliate the pain of it any more than it should have. If he weren't on a mission, he would have personally pulverized every single of those pathetic, libidinous farts that came up to him, patted his head and leered at Rangiku.

But that aside, there was indeed one comforting thought. In the past five hours of queuing under that sweltering sun, they had gone so close to the freak show that when the next show runs, it would probably be their turn. Hitsugaya had noted with interest how most shows had solicited little histrionic response which he had expected after receiving the frenetic reports from the Research Institute and Kurosaki's sister. Except the third show, during which a hysterical woman of about twenty was expelled from it midway with her eyes widening in perpetual, looming fear and her body shaking so vigorously it was like her soul being shaken away. Except the little taichou knew that wasn't possible.

It served wonderful publicity so much that they were beginning to doubt if the mission was going to be fruitful.

Alas, upon Rangiku's two-hundred-and-twenty-first request to visit the washroom and play with the hand dryer, the pair were admitted into the arena where the freakshow would take place. Hitsugaya observed the surrounding crowd with interest. Some wore cynical faces imbued with skeptism; others were excited and trembling in the most sensual fear there existed; some had their eyes closed; some were carrying superstitious items that supposedly warded off the evil death god.

"Ladies and Gentlemen." The voice of a mercenary spoke. There was something……sinister and familiar about that voice, but they passed it off. Rangiku grabbed onto Hitsugaya's thin forearm rather forcefully, her slender fingernails biting into his toned, smooth skin nervously. "Welcome to the show, where you witness the living – DEATH!"

At that instant there was smoke, the most enigmatic smoke that engulfed the entire vision field of the audience. Voices were heard, it was waves and waves of hushed tones that combined into one chaotic fugue of fear and terror. Flickers, there were flickers and spotlights were switched on as some teenaged females passed out in the audience after letting out squeals and whimpers.

The curtains of the stage before them fell.

"Taichou!" Matsumoto screamed. So did the rest of the audience, but for apparently different reasons.

Hitsugaya Toushirou's heart sank as his eyes confirmed the impossible. There, before him on the stage, encased in a thick layer of reiatsu shielding glass, stood that familiar figure.

"Kurosaki Ichigo." He frowned.


End file.
